History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 120

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 120

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

" In this same house the first child was born, to one Louis Guion, and there the first lluguenot marriage took place, the groom being Jean Coutant, and the bride the daughter of David Bonnefoy. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Right Rev. David de Bonrepas, who nnited, in his ministerial functions, the several offices of bishop, priest and presbyter to the French Protestant Church at New Rochelle.º

In addition to much other useful information, Mr. Coutant has communieated the following observa- tions upon the social characteristics and domestic economy of the early Huguenots.

" Not in former times, as now, were the families in country villages or districts dependent on the butcher's stalls for the daily supply of their table, nor yet upon the baker's shops and the flour merchants for bread and pastry. These staples of lifo, as well as their wearing apparel, were furnished upou their own premises. Their cereals were gathered from their fields, threshed and winnowed upon their own barn-floors, and car- ried to the mill in bags to be converted in flour, which was kneaded and haked by the good matrons, in the old fashioned brick ovens, constructed in the immense kitchen chimney-backs. And as to pastry, all of it, not even excepting wedding-cake, was prepared in the same way. Their herds of kine and flocks of sheep, grazing upon their pasture fields, and the poultry in their barn-yards supplied them with fresh meat, butter and eggs the wholo year round. The writer himself, although not as old as some men whom he knows, can well remember the time when a single small cow or a young steer, slaughtered once a week, sufficcd to supply the families of New Rochelle and East Chester with all the fresh micat that was needed, over and above that raised on their own premises. Thus a thrifty farmer, in the early summer or spring, would slaughter a calf, sheep or lamb and, reserving wbat was required for his own use, send the rest to his neighbors, uutil they in turn did the same thing ; and thus the supply was mutual and alternate. This policy was frequently adopted also upon the occurrence of a stone, or ploughing 'frolic,' as they were called, or upon the raising of a barn or some other heavy-tim- bered building, on which occasionsa supply of good old Jamaica rum acted as a sort of steam power, and at night the affair was often concluded by a liberal supply of lamb or veal pot-pie and generous potations of old cider.

" The cellar of the well-to-do farmer was his larder, being fully stocked with harrels of salted meat and hogsheads of cider, as also with potatoes, turuips, butter, lard aud such other provisions as were needful for family use. Even mechanics, carpenters, shoemakers, weavers, tailors, coopers, and hlacksmiths had each his acre of land, cow and fatted pig, and what- ever they lacked of other provisions they had no difficulty in obtaining by an exchange of labor for farmers' products, at the rate of four dollars per hundred weight of beef, eighteen cents per husliel for potatoes, fifty cents a barrel for apples, seventy five cents a bushel for wheat, fifty cents for rye and not more than thirty-six cents a husliel for Indian corn, and other produce in proportiou ; while the wages of the laboring man ranged from fifty to eighty dollars a year, with board, and from fifty to seventy-five cents a day. The wages of mechanics were from seventy- five ceuts to one dollar a day, if boarded, and from one dollar to a dollar and twenty-five cents where they boardod themselves. Carpenters, wheelwrights and blacksmiths were employed upon many of the utensils of husbandry in those days to which they are strangers at the present time. The former made the farmer's ox-sleds, plows, harrows, cider- quills, crackles and other implements for working in flax ; the latter forged his plow-shares, colters, chains and crowbars. The manufacture of flax and wool spinning-wheels was usually dono by cabinet-makers and turners, which class of mechanics was far from numerous.3 The turning was performed on the old-fashioned pole lathe.

"The dress worn by men cousisted of pantaloons, vest and coat ; the latter trimmed with large brass buttons, and an overcoat, or, as it was then called, a match-coat, a wool hat made very much in the form of the felt hats worn at the present day ; laced or low-quartered shoes, and woolen, home-knit stockings. Those garments as a general thing con- stituted a gentleman's wardrobe or outfit for the winter. In summer, Ilnen was usually worn. The ordinary dress worn by elderly women was the old style short-gown and petticoats, of homespun or linsey- woolsey. When they went ahroad, however, this was generally ex- changed for a short-waisted gown of the same material in winter; hut in summer of some lighter fabric. Those who could afford it occasion- ally wore silk. The head-dress consisted of a cap with a wide border and high crown, over which, when abroad, they wore a plain silk hon- net. The young women wore frocks of a similar style and material, but no caps. Their long tresses were parted in front, combed hack and braided into a cue; rolled up spirally upon the back of tho head, and secured hy a huge turtle-shell or horn-comh. Small side combs were also used to keep the hair evenly parted in front. The shape of thelr liats varied constantly, as now, in accordance with the fickle dictates of fashion. At one time it would be a fur cap, somewhat like that worn

1 The details of the man ners and customs of the Huguenots were prepared by Rev. Charles E. Lindsley, D.D., for his chapter upon New Rochelle, and are transferred to his chapter by reasou of its being the most proper place for their insertion.

2 Coutant's " Reminiscences."

3 Archer Craft was among the first whom the writer recollects that wrought at cabinet-making and turning in New Rochelle, and also made and repaired spinning-wheels. llis shop was at Upper New Rochelle. lle was succeeded by Peter Bounett, Jr., who continued the business until spinning wheels fell into disuso.

1 churn.

1 dining table.

468

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

by men at the present time, but trimmed with ribbons and ornamented with feathers, white or black according to the fancy of the wearer. At another, the hat would flatten down and spread out into an immense disk of braided leghorn or straw, held in place by a broad ribbon tied under the chin. Presently, almost while we were yet gazing in admira- tion, they assumed the form of a huge tin scoop in front, projecting be- yond the face some ten or twelve inches, with high crowns to make room for the large comb.

" Strange as it may seem, all of these, to ns, outlandish costumes and fashions looked well in their time! Boys, until grown-up, mostly want barefooted ; nor was it at all nncommon to see grown-up men pursuing their occupations withont shoes upon their feet. All, of course, wore shoes and yarn stockings in winter. Moreover, the young man who conld afford a pair of calt-skin boots with white or red sheep-skin tops was regarded with admiration by the belles of the town. He was a rare bird, indeed, and likely to become the target for the arrows of the mis- chievous blind deity. All the more so, if these ornamental appendages supported a trim, symmetrical form, attired in buff colored corduroy pan- taloons, white vest, a blue broadcloth swallow-tailed coat, trimmed with glistening brass buttons, the collar extending high in back of the neck, and the tail reaching to within a foot of the floor; the whole sur- mounted with a high, bell-crowned beaver hat !

""'Attired in this most marvellous array, Thus walked and talked the dandy of his day.'

" In these early times, the children in farming districts were early tanglit habits of industry, the boys going to school in winter, and as- sisting in the work of the farm in summer and autumn. At the age of sixteen one or more of them would be put out to learn a trade, and bonnd by indentures to serve five years as apprentices. The girls mean- time, while attending the district school, assisted their mother in house- hold duties, and indeed some of them did not hesitate to help at an emer- gency in the out-door work upon the farm-in such light occupations as stirring and raking hay and pulling flax. Nor by so doing did they at at all lose caste or compromise their claims to gentility. Ahnost every young man at the age of twenty-one was familiar with the processes of farming, supplemented frequently by the knowledge of some mechanical employment. At the age of sixteen the girls had a practical acquaint- ance with the business of housekeeping in all its branches. Although not put to a trade, yet, before they arrived at eigliteen years of age, they may be said to have learned at least one trade, at home. They were thoroughly proficient in the art of spinning and making up homespun fabrics. But although thus early tra ned to habits of industry, and to contribute their share of labor towards the support of the family, the young people of both sexes were by no means deprived of amusements. They had their holiday seasons and afternoon and evening sports. They enjoyed, in winter, skating and riding down hill, and spinning tops, fly- ing kites and playing ball in the spring ; and a great many other athletic games and innocent amusements which are now obsolete and forgotten.

"There is yet one more phase of domestic and social life among the early settlers of this part of the country and their immediate descendants which ought not to be passed over entirely without notice, as it is one most intimately connected with human welfare and happiness in this onr earthly lot. I refer to the subject of courtship and marriage. In those times the marriage of young people was the rule and not the exception. At all events the practice was, as it seems to me, much more general tlian at the present time ; and there was a good reason for it. Marriage did not then demand, on the part of one or both of the parties to it, the possession of an independent fortune ! Love and marriage, on the con- trary, came first, and a reasonable amount of worldly success afterwards. To this mmutual industry and economy contributed. The endless cere- mony, parade and lavish expenditure of time and money upon bridal costumes, trousseaus and wedding tours were unknown to the simplicity of those times. If it had not been so, the costly paraphernalia of a wed- ding would have driven the young lovers of that day into the despair of a hopeless celibacy ! Mntnal happiness and success in life, and not idle vanity or foolish display, were then supposed to be the true and proper inducements to matrimony. Such alliances were more easily and natur- ally formed, too, from the fact that population was less transient than now. That is to say, families more frequently lived during their entire lives upon estates which had descended from father to son through sev- eral generations. Weddings, too, even among families of some wealthi, were very simple affairs. They took place at the residence of the bride's parents-usually in the evening. The ceremony was invariably performed by a minister, in the presence of a few of the relatives and friends, and was followed by a season of festivity and merriment. For

the newly-married couple to set up housekeeping cost but a trifle. For twenty-five dollars a year two rooms could be procured sufficiently am- ple for a modest beginning. For as much more, they could be furnished with all that was needful for housekeeping in the way of furniture, etc .; the wife, as a general thing, providing beds, bedding and such carpets as she had been able to mannfacture as the fruit of her own handiwork and industry ; so that the entire outlay, in cash, for the first year, over and above what was provided by the parents, would not, perhaps, ex- ceed one hundred dollars, rent included. These facts refer, of course, to successful marriages-that is, to the great majority. For the few fail- ures, want of sufficient previous acquaintance of the parties (a thing by no means so common then as now) or improvident habits were chiefly accountable. The state of society I have been attempting to describe was that which existed in New Rochelle and Pelliam from seventy-five to one hundred years ago ; and, indeed, much earlier, for the babits and customs of the generation which preceded the War of the Revolution were substantially the same with those of their immediate descendants."

Settling in a country where water-courses were so numerous, the early Dutch did most of their traveling on the North River or the Sound and its tributary streams. The periauger was in constant use for water transportation. Charlevoix calls it pirogue, a canoe formed of the trunk of a tree, while Cooper, in the "Water Witch," says : "It partook of a European and an American character; it possessed the length, narrowness and clean bow of the canoe,

A DOCTOR OF THE OLDEN TIME.

from which its name was derived, and the flat bottom and lee boards of a boat constructed for the shallow waters of the low countries." Mrs. Van Cortlandt says: "Sloops did a great business in carrying passengers, their leisurely movements quite suit- ing the quiet tourists of those days." "The very rich had for state occasions their coach drawn by four stout horses of Flemish blood, with coachman and out- riders in appropriate liveries. Such equipages, how- ever, were few in number and attracted great atten- tion when upon the road. Box wagons, guiltless of springs, were owned by some farmers, but for easy travel a good horse was preferred, the man riding in front and the wife or daughter behind upon a pillion. Physicians needed and bestrode stout nags, always carrying saddle-bags and the few simple surgical in- struments then known. The infallible lancet was stored in the big pocket-book, as at least once a year, usually in the spring, 'a good bleeding' was deemed a necessity. Blooded horses were not scarce, for many of the gentry kept racing stables.

"In winter the people rode about in huge sleighs, some of which were of great length and had covers,

469

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

half extending over them. The horses were decked with a profusion of brass bells strung upon leather straps. When the youths and maidens went for long drives they carried foot-stoves-a tin box pierced with holes and set in a wooden frame, and enclosing an iron cup filled with hot embers."

The quarter of a century following the achievement of national independence was a period fraught with mechanical inventions that imparted a powerful stimulus to the material progress of the country. The steam-engine was being vastly improved, the appli- cation of the newly-discovered power to milling and manufacturing was making rapid progress, aud the locomotive and steamboat were taking shape in the minds of Oliver Evans, Stephenson, Rumsey, Fitch and Fulton. In 1803 Oliver Evans had begun to build

OLIVER EVANS.

steam-engines in Philadelphia, and in 1813 published an article in which he claimed that in 1773 he had suggested steam as a motor on land, and in 1778 had proposed its application to boats. In 1804 he built a machine for cleaning docks, and propelled it by its own engine overland to the Schuylkill River, where he launched it into the stream, fixed a paddle-wheel to it and navigated it around to the Delaware. He proposed to construct a steam road carriage for freight, at a cost of two thousand five hundred dollars, that would transport one hundred barrels of flour, at the speed of two miles an hour, and successfully endeav- ored to enlist the Philadelphia and Columbia Turn- pike Company in his project. He uuquestionably had worked out the idea of the steamboat and locomotive in his mind, but the world laughed at him when he predicted that "The time will come when people

will travel in stages moved by steam-engines from one city to another almost as fast as the birds can fly- fifteen or twenty miles an hour."

Soon after the close of the Revolution James Rum- scy propelled a boat by steam on the Potomac River in the presence of a party of observers, one of whom was Washington, who certified to what Rumsey had accomplished. The Rumsey Society, of which Benja- min Franklin was president, was formed to aid him, and there ensued a sharp controversy for priority of invention between Rumsey and John Fitch. The latter had, in July, 1786, experimented on the Dela- ware with a steamer moved by upright paddles, fitted at the gunwales, but his first successful boat was operated in July, 1788. He changed the paddles to the stem of the craft, where they worked nearly as well as a wheel. Fitch is believed to have invented the first double-acting condensing engine, transmitting power by means of cranks, produced in any country. He took his boat to New York and exhibited it on the Collect, where it was finally beached and aban- doned to decay.

In 1804, John C. Stevens, of Hoboken, N. J., con- structed a steamboat on the Hudson that was driven by a Watts engine, with a tubular boiler of his own invention and a screw propeller. Chancellor Living- ston and Nicholas Roosevelt were interested in this undertaking, which was a failure, as the machinery shook the boat to pieces.

It was reserved for Robert Fulton to make of the steamboat a practical and commercial success. Backed by Chancellor Livingston's money he built in New York, in 1806, a steamer which he named the " Clermont," the title of the Livingston country-seat. She was one huudred and thirty feet in length, eighteen in width, seven in depth, and of one hundred and sixty tons burthen. Her engine was bought from Watt & Boulton. On Friday, August 7, 1807, she started on her first voyage to Albany, and reached there in thirty hours, an average for the one hundred and fifty miles of five miles an hour. In September she began running regularly for the accommodation of the public, making the round trip in seventy-two hours, for which each passenger was charged fourteen dollars. Livingston had already received from the Legislature the grant of the exclusive privilege of navi- gating the waters of New York by steam, and Fulton was admitted as sharer in this franchise. Before the War of 1812 they had built six steamboats for traffic on the Hudsou and ferriage in New York Harbor.

In 1796 there were in the whole State thirty-eight coaches, seventy-three chariots, five post-chaises, ninety-one phactons, seventy-two coaches, one hun- dred and three "other four-wheeled carriages " and one thousand five hundred and twenty-six curricles, chaises, top-chairs, steel-spring-chairs, sulkics and wooden-spring chairs. "The light open chair, or the covered chaise," says Mr. Eggleston, " was generally preferred. These were better suited to the roughness

470

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

and sinuosity of the roads than the coach. The chaise was a kind of two-wheeled gig, having a top, and sometimes drawn by one and sometimes by two horses ; the chair had two wheels, but no top ; the sulky, which was much used, differed from the chair chiefly in having room for but one person. Ladies took delight in driving about alone in open chairs, to the amazement of European travelers, who

OLIVER EVANS' STEAM-CARRIAGE.

deemed that a paradise in which women could travel without protection."

These luxuries of travel were of later date than the time when the Indian trail known as " The Old West- chester Path " was the principal thoroughfare between New York and New England. In 1683 the ferryman to Long Island kept " two boats for cattle and horses and also two boats for passengers." The ferriage for the former was 6ª. a head, and for the latter 1ª. The Dutch yachts (so called) were from one to two weeks in a voyage to Hudson and Albany, or Albania, as it was then called. They came-to every night, prefer- ring ease to speed, and traveled ouly by daylight. All on board spoke Dutch. In 1673 the post or mes- senger was instructed to apply to the Governors for " the best direction how to form the best Post-Road ;"

FITCH'S FIRST STEAMBOAT.

to establish places on the road where to leave the way-letters, and " to mark some Trees that shall direct Passengers the best way, and to fix certain Houses for your several stages both to bait and lodge at." The messenger was to provide himself with " a spare horse, a Horn, and good Portmantles." Travelers who wished to avail themselves of the messenger's

company were permitted to do so, and he was in- structed to afford them the best help in his power.

Miss Sarah Knight, of Boston, came to New York, in 1704, on a visit to some friends. She availed her- self of the guidance and protection of the post-rider, and made the journey, on horseback, in two weeks. Her journal, printed for private circulation, contains graphic and quaint descriptions, and reveals a shrewd observer of men and things. It has proved of inesti- mable value to all writers about the olden time. She gives the reader an idea of the hardships of travel in those days,-hardships bravely borne, in 1702, by another lady, Mrs. Shippen, who travelled from Boston to Philadelphia on horseback, carrying a- baby on her lap.1 We get here, also, an insight into the primitive postal system : "Tuesday, October ye third, about 8 in the morning, I with the Post proceeded forward and about 2, afternoon, arrived at the Post's second stage, where the west- ern Post met him and exchanged letters. . Having here discharged the Ordinary for self and guide, as I understood was the custom, about 3, after- noon, went on with my third guide, who rode very

FITCH'S STEAMBOAT.

hard : and having crossed Providence ferry, we come- to a River which they generally ride through. But I dare not venture, so the Post got a lad and canoe to carry me to the other side, and he rid through and. led my horse. . . Rewarding my sculler, again mounted and made the best of my way forward. The road here was very even and ye day pleasant, it being now near sunset. But the Post told me we had near 14 miles to ride to the next Stage, where we were to lodge. I asked him of the rest of the road, foreseeing we must travel in the night. He told me there was a bad river to ride through, which was so very fierce a horse could sometimes hardly stem it: but it was narrow, and we should soon be over."

The post-office scheme for British America was first devised in the year 1700, by Colonel J. Hamilton, of New Jersey, and son of Governor Andrew Hamilton. He obtained a patent and the profits accruing. He.

1 "Foot-prints of a Letter-Carrier," by James Rees.

471

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

afterwards sold it to the crown. The first regular post-office established in the colonies by Parliament was in 1710.1 The chief office for North America was established in New York. The necessity for in- creased postal facilities had been represented to the home government in 1704, by the Governor of the province of New York, who wrote that ? "The post that goes throngh this place goes eastward as far as Boston ; but westward, hc goes no further than Phila- delphia : and there is no other post upon all this con- tinent." As late as the year 1810 the mail between Canandaigua and Genesee River was carried on horse- back-part of the time by a woman. In 1730 the postmaster of New York published a notice inviting application for the office of foot-post to Albany this winter. Letters to distant places, however, were gen- erally carried by messengers on horseback. At first a satchel or a pair of saddle-bags sufficed; then a light vehicle was required ; finally the stage coaches, which were first started for the benefit of travelers, became the proper means of transportation for the

THE STEAMER "CLERMONT."

ever-increasing mail matter. Until 1755 there had been bnt one a week, eastward and westward from New York,-Boston and Philadelphia being still the extreme points,-and this only in the summer ; once a fortnight was the winter arrangement. In 1755 it was arranged that the New England post should start weekly all the year round. When this post was first established, in 1672, by Governor Lovelace, it was to "sett forth from this citty of New Yorke monthly, and thence to travail to Boston, from whence within that Month hee shall return againe to this citty."

An independent post-office was established in New York in 1775, at the suggestion of William Goddard, the publisher of the Maryland Journal, and John Holt, the New York printer, was appointed postmaster. There is no doubt that the "Sons of Liberty," a popular association of Americans, were connected with this movement; for one of the first

acts of its members was to send, through this office, threatening letters to the leading members of the Tory party.

Mr. James Rees, from whose "Foot-prints of a Letter-Carrier" we have qnoted the above paragraph, says : "Nor was it until 1732 that the first stage-route to Philadelphia was established ; stages also departed for Boston monthly, taking a fortnight on the ronte." Advertisements of that year mentioned the departure of the post "in order to perform his stage," but we find no reference to " stage-wagons" or "stage-coaches" before 1756, when the " first stage-coach" is announced to run between Philadelphia and New York, " three days through." In 1753, William Vandrills informed " gentlemen and others who have a mind to transport themselves, wares or micrehandise from New York to Philadelphia," that he has "fitted a stage boat," which will " sail from New York to Amboy and thence by wagons to Burlington, and thence take passage to Philadelphia." In 1765 a rival of the "First Stage- Coach " put on the line a " covered Jersey wagon," -an improvement, it seems, on the other "coach." Competition was ronsed, and in the following year (1766) a third stage, yclept "The Flying-Machine," proposed to make the trip in two days, and allured travelers with the promise of "good wagons and seats on springs." Through fare, twenty shillings. When the capital of the province had accomplished no more during a century as regards traveling facili- ties, it conld hardly be expected that Westchester County was able to boast of superior accommodations. Public travel was in its infancy : the hardy colonist bestrode his own good horse and started on a distant journey with no more concern than we board a rail- road train nowadays. After the Revolution, however, there was a marked and general improvement. A stage line was begun, in 1785, between New York and Albany. In 1787 stage communication with Boston was had three times a week in summer and twice a week in winter, and the towns in Westchester Connty had a stage from New York City every other day.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 120

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354